H.S.Wrestling Notebook: Kittatinny’s Gill had a lot of help along the way to 500 wins

There is no denying John Gill has been the face of the Kittatinny wrestling team.

For 34 years, the 56-year-old head coach has led the Cougars to a ton of accomplishments, such as winning over 500 matches as a program, capturing eight Group championships, claiming 18 sectional titles and bringing home 11 league titles.

He has also been the guy that coached eight state champions, 32 Region winners, 41 state medalists, 104 Region placewinners, 95 District champs and 292 district placewinners.

So when asked what about his recent milestone — becoming the first wrestling coach in Sussex County to reach 500 career wins — meant to him, Gill felt he wasn't the only one to make it happen.

"It means I have had a lot of good help," Gill said Tuesday night. "This is a program accomplishment. There are just so many pieces to the puzzle. There are assistant coaches, athletes, school officials, family, elementary programs, statisticians, etc. Obviously, my name is attached to it and I'm really honored. But, it's not just me."

Gill, who went to 500-150-5 in his career on Monday after his Cougars defeated Jefferson, 48-21, has had a lot of help during his time with the Cougars, which spans 36 years overall.

After graduating from the University of Scranton in 1978, Gill started coaching the Cougars as a jayvee coach under the program's first head coach Carl Bateman. Gill said Bateman "helped give me some guidance and things he did that I still try to do" while he was coaching Bateman's sub-varsity grapplers for two years.

Then after Bateman stepped down as head coach, Gill took over as the head man, but he was in need of an assistant to aid him. Luckily for Gill, he found one in the late Linn Crawn.

"That first season, I had to recruit my own helper," Gill said. "Linn Crawn was not a school teacher. He was a mason. I worked with his twin sister, Linda, and she said he might be interested.

"So I called him up and I said, ‘Linn, it's John Gill from Kittatinny,'" Gill continued. "‘I work there with your sister and I'm looking for an assistant coach. She thought you would may be interested.' He said he would give it a try. He met with me and the athletic director and he got the job. And we just clicked."

Gill and Crawn were a great pair for 32 years before Crawn died on Aug. 9, 2012. While Gill would be standing just off the mat cheering and screaming for his wrestlers to do things on the mat to win, Crawn would be the one making the lineups for the Cougars in order to put them in the best situation possible to earn a victory.

"He and I shared so many of these 500 wins," Gill said. "He was my right arm."

Gill said he has had some great help from his assistant coaches Steve Butler, Nick DeGennaro, Will Livingston, Jared Roe and Robert Vesper since Crawn died. Particularly, Butler has taken over Crawn's role in putting together lineups for the Cougars.

Gill also gave credit to school officials like athletic director Chris Carroll and principal Christian Angelillo for allowing him the opportunity to keep coaching. He also showed great thanks to his family, especially his wife, Diane, for being supportive that he spends nights and weekends with his Cougars.

But, more importantly, he felt he received the most assistance from his past and present grapplers, who made all of this possible.

"You can't do it without them," Gill said. "In a particular match, normally, you need eight kids to win. You need eight of your kids to step up.

Because of all the Cougars, Gill has the sixth-most coaching victories in New Jersey history, trailing behind Stan Woods, of Emerson-Park Ridge (652), Dennis Smith, of Delran (605), Ralph Ross, of Highland (601), Paul Morina of Paulsboro (568) and Gene Barber, of Absegami (507). In addition, Gill also leads the county in victories by 212 (and counting), staying ahead of former High Point head coach Jeff Hull (288).

"I'm very proud," Gill said. "I always think Sussex County wrestling is special. Wrestling is very healthy in this area and for me to be the all-time wins leader here is great. I'm certainly flattered, but I want this to be a proud moment for the Kittatinny community because everyone made it possible."

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Kittatinny and High Point are once again among the top teams in the NJSIAA's latest power-point rankings. The rankings were released on Tuesday for matches through Jan. 26.

The top six teams in each sectional qualify for the sectional tournament on Feb. 10, 12 and 14. The cut-off date for power-point rankings is Saturday.

While Kittatinny is first in North 1, Group 1 for the second straight year with a power-point ranking of 30.70, High Point — the defending Group 2 champion, is surprisingly ranked third in North 1, Group 2 with a ranking of 27.60.

The Wildcats (8-3) have earned a top seed in the sectional tournament for the past four years (twice in North 1, Group 3, twice in North 1, Group 2). But right now, they trail current No. 1 seed River Dell, which has a ranking of 28.50, because River Dell has wrestled in 15 matches, going 13-2 in that span.

The Wildcats have five matches left this season after beating Mount Olive, XX-XX, on Wednesday night, with three of those happening on Saturday's cutoff date. As for River Dell, it has four left before the cutoff.

The Wildcats will take on Warren Hills, St. Joseph of Montvale and Wayne Valley in a quad on Saturday. Of those three teams, only Warren Hills (28.40) has a better power-point ranking than them, making the 'Cats have to wrestle perfect to get the top seed unless River Dell stumbles during its last four matches

•••

The 29th annual Morris County Tournament is approaching. The two-day tournament featuring 24 schools from Morris County begins Friday and continues Saturday at Mount Olive High School.

Before it begins, the coaches from each team will gather today at 4 p.m. at Mount Olive for a seeding meeting to set up the brackets for each of the 14 weight classes.

As always, Jefferson is the lone representative from the area in the tourney. The Falcons had one champion last year in Bryan Damon, who won the 113-pound title as the second seed, beating Randolph's AJ Vindici, 4-3, in the final.

This year, Damon, who is 20-2 at 126 pounds, is looking to become the Falcons' first back-to-back since 2007 when Ken Monarque and Tyler Milonas each accomplished the feat. Monarque won titles at 140 and 152 pounds while Milonas claimed titles at 119 and 130.

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In 1881, five short line regional railroads combined with the New Jersey Midland Railroad to form the New York, Susquehanna & Western Railway. This new line played an important role in hauling coal out of Pennsylvania to the greater New York metropolitan